For decades, theCapitals and their fans could have filled the huge Stanley Cup with their tears of frustration. Now they can fill it with tears of joy. Captain Alex Ovechkin, the…

For decades, the Capitals and their fans could have filled the huge Stanley Cup with their tears of frustration. Now they can fill it with tears of joy.

Captain Alex Ovechkin, the MVP of the playoffs, was the first to skate around the rink, carrying the Cup over his head after a 4-3 victory in Game 5 of the finals over the Vegas Golden Knights. Then the Great 8 handed the Cup — or in the Caps’ case it should be grail — to Nicklas Backstom, his buddy and running mate for the past 11 years.

Skating side-by-side with Backstrom, Ovechkin bellowed, “Yeah, baby!” And those words, yelled through a gaptoothed grin, could stand for the emotions of countless delirious, delighted and oh, so relieved Caps fans.

The concept that “justice too long delayed is justice denied” can be traced back centuries. But among its many applications, the Capitals, and especially the players of the Ovi Era, deserve to have it applied to them. This Cup is justice delivered — just in time, when many in the NHL thought they had squandered their last chances — by the Caps’ own determined hands.

Jakub Vrana started the scoring. Devante Smith-Pelly tied it up in the third. Lars Eller scored the game-winner. And the Capitals skated away with the Stanley Cup. Just what everyone expected at the start of the season, right?